'Stryker'painted by Ian 'Lonewolf' Haynes

In painting this model I used paints from -
Games Workshop (GW)
Vallejo Model Colour (VMC)
Vallejo Game Colour (VGC)


Preparation
Before painting I cleaned up the model and glued it together. The model itself comes in 3 parts....Right arm with gun, Left arm and The main body. In hindsight I should have left the gun arm off and painted it separately to make it easier.
Once assembled I glued him into his slottabase. Then I coated the base in PVA glue and dipped it in some modelling sand, shaking off the excess and allowing it to dry. The only reason I glue the sand to the base before painting is the undercoat helps keep the sand in place. Next step was to undercoat the model. For this I used Games Workshop Chaos Black spray paint and once this was dry I touched up any areas the spray missed using a little GW Chaos Black paint.




Basecoat
I wanted to the base colours together to give me an overall idea of what the figure would look like finished and how the colours went together. Whenever I paint I always thin the paint with a little water to get it to that 'Like Milk' consistency. By doing 2 or 3 thin layers for each colour it allows you to get good coverage with a smooth finish.
I gave the whole model a coat of VMC Dark Grey and once dry I gave it a wash of equal parts GW Black Ink and Water with a drop of flow aid added to make sure it dried evenly. This has the effect of black lining the whole model and picking out the details. Once the ink had dried I painted the gun and ammo clips VMC Dark Grey. The belt and boots were painted with a mix of 1 part VMC Dark Grey and 3 parts VMC German Cammo Black-Brown. Next the flesh was painted with a mix of 1 part VMC Dark Grey and 3 parts VGC Pale Flesh. The torn parts of the skin where the muscles show through was painted VMC Burnt Cadmium Red. I gave the eyes and pipes a coat of VGC Imperial Blue. Finally the metal areas (leg, collar and gun parts) were painted with VGC Chainmail.




Fiddly Bits
I wanted to paint some of the fiddly bits next like the eyes and teeth so I didn't risk getting paint on the skin once it was done. The teeth were given a basecoat of VGC Scrofulous Brown then highlighted with VGC Bonewhite. Then a final highlight of VGC Skull White. The eyes were highlighted with VGC Magic Blue then given a tiny dot of white in the centre. Last bit to do here is the torn parts of the flesh which were highlighted with VMC Vermillion.




The Skin
Already having a nice solid basecoat on it I proceeded straight on with the highlighting. Starting with a mix of 1 part VMC Dark Grey + 5 parts VGC Pale flesh I layered up the highlights adding more VGC Pale Flesh to each layer until I was using just VGC Pale flesh. Then I used VGC Skull White for the final highlight. It's VERY important to keep the paint quite thin when layering otherwise you can end up with a chalky finish.




Guns and Ammo
Next up I painted the guns and ammo clips I used the basecoat colour of VMC Dark Grey and added VMC Neutral Grey to this for the highlights, adding more VMC Neutral Grey for each successive highlight until I was using pure VMC Neutral Grey. Then for the final highlight I added a tiny drop of VGC Skull White to the mix.




Trousers
These were painted by adding VMC Azure to the VMC Dark Grey in increasing amounts until pure VMC Azure was used for the final highlight.




Belt and Pouches
These were highlighted with VMC German Cammo Black-Brown then adding VMC Flat Earth to it for the next highlight, With a final highlight of pure VMC Flat Earth.




Metallics
I've found the best way to get smooth shiny metallic is to use thin layers of watered down metallic paint and to build up the colour using several thin layers. I gave the already base coated metal parts a wash of 2 parts GW Brown Ink & 1 part GW Black Ink thinned down with a little water. Once dry I highlighted the raised areas with VGC Chainmail then to give it a real shine I used VGC Silver for the final highlight.




Pipes
The pipes coming out of the body were painted in pretty much the same way as the eyes using VGC Magic Blue for the first highlight and adding a little VGC Skull White to it for the final highlight.
Gun Barrel and Elbow Pad
These were done by painting the areas VGC Chaos Black. Then by adding tiny amounts of VMC Dark Blue Grey to the Black for the highlights. The trick is not to over highlight the black which makes it look grey.




The Base
First of all I gave the base quite a heavy dry brush of GW Scorched Brown leaving more paint on the brush than I normally would. Then I gave it a dry brush of GW Graveyard Earth. Next I used GW Bubonic Brown dry brushed in patches around the base. Then VGC Bonewhite was used to pick out tiny patches of the GW Bubonic Brown to dull down the yellow tone. Last bit of painting was just to tidy up the edge of the base with some GW Chaos Black. All that's left to do now is add a bit of vegetation to the base. I used 'Coarse Turf' and 'Blended Turf' from Woodland Scenics. A dab of PVA glue here and there, sprinkle the vegetation on, tap off the excess and Ta Da! One finished 'Stryker'





And here he is, thanks Ian!